Themed collection ChemComm Most Popular 2023 Articles

An urgent need for quantitative mechanistic understanding of advanced redox processes for aqueous electrocatalytic organohalogen destruction methods is addressed, highlighting remediation of fluorinated, chlorinated, and brominated water pollutants.

This article reviews the methodologies available to achieve C–C bond formation via photocatalytic and photo-electrocatalytic direct functionalization of simple alkanes.

Vacancies are ubiquitous in nature, usually playing an important role in determining how a material behaves, both physically and chemically.

This minireview highlights advances in the application of small-molecule photoswitches towards the design of controllable functional reporters for fluorescence microscopy.

Current developments and future prospects of CNM-based polymeric membranes for enantiomeric separation, wastewater treatment, gas separation, and biomolecule separation are highlighted in this feature article.

This feature article outlines the impact of solvent–antisolvent interactions on the film formation processes of metal halide perovskites.

Perovskite-inspired absorbers are promising for sustainable indoor light-harvesting. Defect mitigation and device operational stability need attention to accelerate the development of air-stable and low-toxicity photovoltaics.

This article discusses the photochemistry of several diazo compounds undergoing visible light-mediated photolysis to generate free carbenes (or other highly reactive intermediates), which can be sequentially trapped by different reacting partners.

This feature article presents all the recent reports on photoredox-catalyzed redox-neutral carbon–heteroatom coupling reactions up to March 2023.

The electrochemical interfacial interaction of electrode materials with liquid electrolytes in electrochemical energy storage systems have become a research hotspot and play a decisive role in electrochemical energy storage.

This review introduces recent advances of covalent triazine framework-based materials for electrochemical energy storage and conversion, including supercapacitors, alkali-ion batteries, lithium–sulfur batteries, HER, ORR/OER, and carbon dioxide reduction reaction.

Electrocatalytic direct seawater splitting is considered to be one of the most desirable and necessary approach to produce substantial amount of green hydrogen to meet the energy demand.

Epitaxial oxide thin films enable electrocatalyst design, e.g. for the oxygen evolution reaction, based on atomic-level structure–property–functionality relationships.

Multi-resonant thermally activated delayed fluorescent (MR-TADF) materials with boosting rate of Reverse Intersystem Crossing, subsequently alleviating External Quantum Efficiency roll off in OLEDs were discussed.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are extremely versatile materials, which serve to create platforms with exceptional porosity and specific reactivities.

Biomarkers are essential in biology, physiology, and pharmacology; thus, their detection is of extensive importance.

The feature article outlines the design concept for the construction of “turn-on” fluorescent receptors for anions using fluorescent pH probes. Applications of this concept for the construction of fluorescent receptors for anions are described.

Although alkynes are one of the smallest functional groups, they are among the most versatile building blocks for organic chemistry. In this feature article, the progress in alkynylation with hypervalent iodine reagents since 2018 will be presented.

Recent strategies to steer Aluminum contents and their location in zeolite synthesis are interpreted from both a kinetic and thermodynamic view.

This feature article introduces the basic principles of femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (fs-TAS) and recent advances in the application of fs-TAS to heterojunction photocatalysts.

The selective activation of C–C bonds holds vast promise for catalysis.

A single crystal growth method for low solubility polycyclic aromatic substrates based on competitive host–guest equilibria is developed.

Cyclisation of aryl amines onto tethered arynes affords selective access to phenanthridine derivatives via simple switch of reaction environment.

Prompted by the increasing interest in strained hydrocarbons as potential drug candidates, we developed a simple and efficient photochemical protocol for (spiro)cyclopropanes from bench stable tosylhydrazones and electron poor olefins.

Trinitromethyl nitrotriazole (TNMNT) and its hydrazinium and potassium salts exhibit several unique energetic properties, which suggest their potential as solid propellants and oxidizers.

Combined modeling and experiments uncover the influence of epoxide-functionalization on hydrogen bonding and mobility within poly(ethylenimine) CO₂ sorbents, rationalizing the antidegradation benefits conferred by functionalization.

Benefitting from the favorable mass diffusion kinetics and increased exposed active sites, the amorphous Fe–Co oxide shows satisfactory UOR and HER performance in alkaline seawater.

A Pd-catalyzed rollover cascade dual C–H annulation of aryl phenols with alkynols for producing phenanthrene scaffolds in a regioselective manner was developed. Necessary control, KIE and deuterium experiments were conducted to determine the reaction mechanism.

Pd metallene has been demonstrated as an efficient catalyst for electrocatalytic NO reduction to NH₃ (NO₃RR), attributed to the hcp site of Pd to effectively activate and hydrogenate NO through a mixed pathway with a low energy barrier.

Herein, we present an efficient method for synthesizing 3-selenylindoles through an electrochemically driven oxidative cyclization of 2-alkynylanilines with diselenides under mild reaction conditions in an electrochemical undivided cell setup.

A nitroreductase (NTR) responsive fluorescent probe with long wavelength fluorescence emission was used to determine the NTR activity of a selection of bacterial species under a range of different bacterial growth conditions.

Herein, we demonstrate a record low melting temperature (T_m = 142 °C) in a lead-free perovskite and provide empirical design rules to tune the perovskite composition to achieve it.

A robust multigram-scale synthesis of dimethyl 1,3-cubane dicarboxylate (previously only available on milligram-scale) is reported, as well as its conversion into a variety of other 1,3-disubstituted cubanes.

Understanding the fundamentals behind an electrocatalyst's selectivity enables the the design of functional materials for CO₂RR.

A visible-light-induced electron–donor–acceptor (EDA)-aggregated radical cyclization between (E)-2-(1,3-diarylallylidene)malononitriles and thiophenols leads to poly-functionalized thio pyridines.

Yttrium doping regulates the electronic structure of cobalt-based MOFs and boosts their electrocatalytic performance for glycerol electrooxidation and hydrogen evolution.

The selectivity tunable synthesis of functionalized indoles and benzofurans has been achieved via the reactions of enaminones with quinonediimides and quinoneimides under modified conditions, respectively.

SmCoO₃ nanofibers achieve a large NH₃ yield of 14.4 mg h⁻¹ mg_cat.⁻¹ and a high faradaic efficiency of 81.3% at −1.0 V vs. RHE in 0.1 M PBS with 0.1 M NO₃⁻.

An interface coupling strategy is developed to deposit metal W species onto Co₂P nanosheets on a nickel foam substrate (W@Co₂P/NF). This catalyst realizes superior bifunctional performance for both the HER and HzOR in an alkaline medium.

An indicator displacement assay for colorimetric/fluorometric dual-mode detection of urinary uric acid was constructed using a naphthalene-based tetralactam macrocycle and phenoxazine dye, resorufin, which realized the visual detection of uric acid levels of volunteers.

Herein, quinary CoFeNiCuCr sulfide nanosheets with a high-entropy feature and rough surface were fabricated via a topotactic transformation pathway, and display facile pre-oxidation and improved intrinsic activity towards the robust oxygen evolution reaction.

Coupling Cu doping and oxygen vacancies in Co₃O₄ can greatly improve its electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction performance towards NH₃ generation.

The charge density of Co atoms in Co-MOFs is optimized by bimetallic (Fe, Ni) atom substitution, and the reconstructed Co(Ni)OOH on FeNiCo-MOF as the real active site lowers the energy barrier of rate-determining step, conducive to OER processes.

Zero-dimensional cupper(I) organometallic metal halide, with a perovskite-related structure, exhibits an efficient green cluster-centred emission for next-generation X-ray imaging screens.

The polyethyleneimine-functionalized PdOs bimetallene with a curved 2D nanosheet structure was synthesized for enhanced oxygen reduction electrolysis.

The effect of metal–organic framework particle size on capacitive performance in oxygenated saline water was studied, suggesting that as particle size increases, the performance decreases.

A series of gem-dinitromethyl substituted zwitterionic C–C bonded azole based energetic materials (3–8) were designed, synthesized, and characterized through NMR, IR, EA, and DSC studies.

Three new IPr-Ag- and -Au-SNS amido and thiolate complexes were synthesized and compared to their previously reported Cu analogues as carbonyl hydroboration catalysts (IPr = bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene).

The reactions of enaminones, hydrazine hydrochlorides and internal alkynes for the synthesis of N-naphthyl pyrazoles are achieved via Rh(III) catalysis, representing the first three-component Satoh–Miura benzannulation.

The solventless synthesis of teriflunomide and moclobemide was realized in a twin-screw extruder.

MFM-300(Sc) was explored as a catalyst for the gas-phase hydrogenation of acetone. The reaction was driven by Sc(III) dynamics sites.

A macroporous SnO₂/MoS₂ inverse opal hierarchitecture has been synthesized via a self-assembled colloidal template method and hydrothermal treatment, demonstrating highly sensitive and selective sensing properties towards trace NO₂ detection.

The Rh(III)-catalyzed C8-selective allylation of quinoline N-oxides has been achieved with vinylcyclopropanes as the allyl source with an excellent (E)-diastereocontrol at room temperature via sequential C–H and C–C activation.

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in the endoplasmic reticulum of living systems could be imaged using probe ER-Nap-NBD.

An efficient indolo[3,2,1-jk]carbazole-fused MR-TADF emitter with a B/N skeleton exhibits a considerable reverse intersystem crossing rate and the corresponding organic light-emitting diode displays an external quantum efficiency of 27.2% with suppressed efficiency roll-off.

B(C₆F₅)₃ catalyzed cyclopropanation of 3-alkenyl-oxindoles with diazomethanes to form 25 spirocyclopropane-oxindole derivatives in good to excellent yields (up to 99%) and high diastereoselectivities (up to 20 : 1 d.r.) under mild reaction conditions.

Layer structured MoS₂ with intercalation of polyaniline and crystal defects was prepared, which delivers high reversible capacity and excellent cycle stability, including 77.8 mA h g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ and near 100% retention rate after 750 cycles.

Incorporation of Ir cations into Co₃O₄ could cause a lattice expansion effect and thus promote both the hydrogen evolution reaction and the glycerol oxidation reaction.

A Cu nanoparticle-decorated TiO₂ nanobelt array on a titanium plate acts as a catalyst for NH₃ electrosynthesis via NO₂⁻ reduction, attaining an NH₃ yield of 760.5 μmol h⁻¹ cm⁻² (237.7 μmol h⁻¹ mg_cat.⁻¹) and a high Faradaic efficiency of 95.3%.

A palladium-catalyzed general synthetic strategy to access an attractive and decorated set of spirooxazinane skeletons was successfully achieved using vinyl benzoxazinanone derivatives and ketones.